Wednesday, August 20, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
DMCI Holdings Inc., the investment holding firm of the Consunji family, posted a net profit of P543 million in the first half of the year, down 73 percent from the previous level of P2.06 billion which then included a one-time gain.
Revenues, however, jumped 61.5 percent to P9.4 billion on robust sales across most of its business units led by construction firm D.M. Consunji Inc.
Semirara Mining Corp., 55 percent owned by DMCI, accounted for half of total revenues, contributing P4.75 billion or an increase of 67 percent from P2.85 billion. D.M. Consunji pumped in P2.21 billion, up 58 percent from P1.4 billion while its real estate operations chipped in P1.83 billion, 22.8 percent higher than the year earlier figure of P1.49 billion.
Boosting the company’s revenues is the sale of nickel ore which generated P441.2 million in sales.
DMCI said its investment in the water sector, through a partnership with Metro Pacific Investments Corp., reported a significant drop in net contributions during the period under review-from a P1.4-billion profit to a loss of P234 million.
Extraordinary high income from the negative goodwill booked last year coupled with non-operating consortium level costs recorded this year led to the big discrepancy in the bottom line figures.
Among these costs include forex losses from the dollar-denominated loans obtained to acquire Maynilad Water Services Inc. worth P695 million, amortization of the negative goodwill amounting to P302 million and net interest expense from the same US-dollar denominated loans costing P347 million.
The consortium expects net interest expense to be brought down significantly when the dollar loan is converted and additional capital infusion have been finalized within the year.
Maynilad operations, on a stand alone, posted a net income of P1 billion for the six months ending June this year, up 26 percent from P802 million last year.
This includes forex gains from the retirement of Maynilad’s rehab debt which erased the forex losses booked in line with the new concession accounting adopted in the previous quarter.
Semirara reported a net income of P443.28 million, eight percent higher than the year earlier figure of P409.07 million on record sales volume of 2.12 million metric tons.
The continuous increase in coal demand brought down inventory to a meager level of 13,819 metric tons.
Coal deliveries from the local markets and offshore coal customers have driven a significant 67-percent increase in coal mining revenues.
As for DMCI’s real estate business, DMCI Project Developers Inc. posted an eight percent growth in net profit on the back of a 23-percent rise in revenues due to higher selling price. Existing projects such as Manors at Celebrity Place, Raya Gardens and Rosewood Pointe, and new projects Alta Vista Boracay, Dansalan Gardens and Riverfront Residences contributed a total of P1.27 billion or 69 percent of the real estate sales booked for the first half.
DM Consunji registered a 24-percent jump in net earnings as revenues expanded 66 percent on increased works from outside contracts and construction from the water business.
Finalized billings on construction of Shangri-La Boracay, Robinsons One Adriatico and Cybergate Tower accounted for a sizeable share of the revenues for the period.
In addition, construction from Maynilad, which already contributed P339 million in 2007, added P514-million revenues for the first half of 2008. – Zinnia dela Peña
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